The present invention relates generally to high power amplifiers and specifically to a high power amplifier assembly having a single printed circuit board capable of housing and isolating a plurality of subcircuits.
Modern high power amplifiers, such as those for cellular communications, do more than simply amplify a signal. Such power amplifiers also handle other tasks as well. For example, high power amplifiers often must also condition or change input prime power from one voltage to another voltage for proper operation of the internal amplification circuits. Furthermore, such amplifiers may be required to translate an incoming frequency to a different frequency.
Another operation many high power amplifiers perform is the monitoring of internal circuit functionality and the transmission of that monitoring information across an external data bus. Still further, high power amplifiers may be required to receive external operating instructions as well.
Currently, to properly provide such disparate operations and functions, existing high power amplifiers include numerous, separate printed circuit assemblies, which are often mounted and housed individually. For example, a separate board assembly for each function is common in existing amplifier designs. The assemblies both contain and electrically isolate the various individual circuit assemblies. In such designs, each function is handled by its own separate printed circuit assembly which is mounted its own housing. With each function handled by stand-alone circuits, the various circuit assemblies then must be individually assembled and ultimately joined into a single, completed assembly.
As may be appreciated, current power amplifier designs result in multiplication of numerous manufacturing steps, thus increasing production costs. Furthermore, the separate handling required for each separate circuit adds additional costs. For example, each separate board assembly for each of the various functions must be separately kitted, assembled, cleaned and inspected. Often, several of these subassemblies are also tested prior to top level assembly and must be again retested once top level assembly occurs.
Additionally, discrete circuit connection components must be used to interconnect the various separate subassemblies and transmit signals from one subassembly to the next. The interconnection components and assembly further add complexity and cost to the design and production of the amplifier. The reliability of the overall structure is reduced as well, due to the multiple individual components for interconnection.
Still further, the size of such amplifiers is dictated by the amount of space necessary to incorporate and assemble all of the individually housed subassemblies together. Therefore, existing amplifiers often do not efficiently address size and space issues.
There exists a need for a high power amplifier which reduces the component manufacturing and production costs while increasing the reliability and maintaining the desired isolation of the high power amplifier within a compact assembly size.